1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collation device and a collation method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems, which are provided with card reader devices and host devices, are known in the prior art. The host device is a control device such as a server. The card reader device reads specific information such as an ID number from a card in which this specific information has been recorded. The card reader device then reports the card specific information (hereinbelow referred to as “specific information”) that has been read to the host device by way of a communication network.
A card reader device that includes a fingerprint collation device is also known. More specifically, the fingerprint collation device reads the fingerprint information from a card in which the fingerprint information of the true owner of this card has been recorded. The fingerprint collation device collates the fingerprint information that has been read and stored in it with the fingerprint that is read from the finger of the user of the card in order to verify whether the user of the card is the true owner of the card.
A card reader device that includes a fingerprint collation device is hereinbelow referred to a “card reader device with fingerprint collation capability.” A card reader device with fingerprint collation capability has the following important advantages:
The fingerprint collation device has excellent compatibility with systems that use cards. In addition, an individual can be authenticated without divulging his or her fingerprint information, which is personal information, to the communication network. Further, recording fingerprints on cards enables a reduction of the burden of installing, operating, and managing a center that includes a fingerprint collation database for storing fingerprint information for authentication.
Nevertheless, each time the user uses a card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, the user must carry out both the task of having the fingerprint information that is recorded on a card read into the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, and the task of having his or her own fingerprint read into the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, and the time, which is required for a user in order to operate the card reader device, therefore increases.
More specifically, each time the user uses the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, the user must insert a card into the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability. In addition, the user must wait until the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability has read all of the fingerprint information and until his or her own specific information from the card that has been insert into the card reader device.
The operation of inserting a card is more troublesome than a case in which such an operation is not necessary. In addition, when the method for reading information from a card is complex or the volume of information is great, the operation of reading the information from the card may be extremely time-consuming.
For these reasons, when a plurality of users operate the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability by turns at frequent intervals, each user is unable to promptly operate the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, and the operation efficiency of the device is therefore degraded.
For example, when a specific plurality of users operate a single card reader device with fingerprint collation capability in a store or an office by turns at frequent intervals in order to get work done more quickly, the amount of time required for card operation degrades work efficiency.
Many techniques have been proposed for using fingerprint collation in order to verify whether the user of a card is the true owner of that card. However, most of these techniques have been proposed on the assumption that the card reader device with fingerprint collation capability will be used by a nonspecific number of users at a low level of frequency, such as would be the case for a credit card or an ATM cash card, and as a result, provisions for speeding up operations were not required.
JP-A-2003-346099 discloses a card reader device with fingerprint collation capability that is capable of shortening the time required for the card operation.
More specifically, this card reader device with fingerprint collation capability first reads fingerprint information and an ID number that have been recorded on an ID card. This card reader device with fingerprint collation capability stores the fingerprint information and ID number that have been read in association with each other in a memory. The card reader device with fingerprint collation capability then, after acquiring the ID number from the ID card or ten-key pad, reads the fingerprint information that is associated with the acquired ID number from memory. The card reader device with fingerprint collation capability then collates the fingerprint information that has been read with the fingerprint of the user of the ID card.
By means of this card reader device with fingerprint collation capability, the ID number and fingerprint information, which have been recorded on an ID card, are stored in memory. The fingerprint of the user of an ID card is collated with fingerprint information that has been stored in memory. Accordingly, once fingerprint information is stored in memory, the user of an ID card can undergo fingerprint collation by using an ID number and his or her fingerprint without using the ID card.
However, this card reader device with fingerprint collation capability still requires the user of a card to perform the tasks of storing fingerprint information in memory, using as input an ID number for specifying the fingerprint information that is stored in memory, and having the device read his or her fingerprint. As a result, the problem remains that a great deal of time is required for collation.
This problem is not limited to a fingerprint collation device and also occurs in the following collation device:
A collation device first stores registration identification information and an ID number that are associated with each other and that are recorded on a portable recording medium such as a card in memory. This collation device then acquires the ID number from the user. The collation device then collates the registration identification information, which is associated with the acquired ID number, with input identification information that has been acquired from the user.